Only Barney Frank has an appropriate scowl.
Not that I think Rush Limbaugh does much besides ramble stupidly, but he had one good observation a little bit ago--the Democratic leadership in Congress was seen celebrating the bailout bill in an unseemly fashion. I concur that such whooping over a taking of taxpayer scalps is completely inappropriate, even if you figure this medicine was for the good of the country.
House Approves Bailout on Second Try
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN - NY Times - October 3, 2008
WASHINGTON ? The House of Representatives gave final approval on Friday to the $700 billion bailout for the financial system, reversing course to authorize what may be the most expensive government intervention in history.This morning on Democracy Now!, Robert Johnson, former chief economist of the Senate Banking Committee had this to say:
At 1:21 p.m., applause and cheers echoed through the House chamber as the number of "aye" votes crossed the threshold needed for passage with just seconds remaining in the official 15-minute voting period. The vote was 263 to 171.
Johnson: I think this bill, five weeks before an election, is illustrating for the American people, when there are two currencies of power?votes and money?that even at this time, when the power of votes is at its cyclical high, meaning just before the election, they are almost laughing at the American people, in the?by the nature and structure of this bill. This is a very sad result.Later Johnson says he himself would have voted for it if it was the only thing offered to address the grave situation, but that in crafting the bill the way it was crafted--in fact a senate provision will increase for distressed mortgagees the difficulty in getting workouts--incumbents in Congress who voted for this thing are "daring" voters to turn them out of office in five weeks.
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